Barolo 1999 vs. 2001 Blind

This dinner was organized though the discussion forum on Antonio Galloni's Vinous by Tony Kim who made all the arrangements for the venue and the excellent food. Everyone sent me a list of Barolo in their cellar so that I could create a theme. Looking at what people had, I saw an opportunity to compare two highly regarded Barolo vintages: 1999 and 2001. There had been some negative reports on 2001 and some positive on 1999, so I saw this as a chance to see for ourselves with many of the best producers.

The venue is two floors down from the main shop of New York Vintners. Our wines and our food were managed by Charles who did a terrific job. We all had a great time eating, drinking, and conversating.

A word about "blind" in the title. Everyone knew that the wines were all Barolo from the 1999 and 2001 vintages. They also knew that each flight corresponded to one producer and one wine from that producer in these two vintages. The one exception was that the 2001 Ca was included in the Monprivato flight along with the 99 and 01 Monprivato, but no 1999 Ca was made, so we had 3 in that flight. So for each wine someone brought, he knew that one flight contained his wine and its peer from the other vintage, but he did not know which flight that was until the unveiling. In my case, I knew all the wines and all the flights, but once I organized which wines went into each flight, I had Charles choose the order within the flight, so I did not know which was the 99 and which was the 01 in each flight, but I was able to guess correctly in most cases knowing the character of these two vintages.

All wines were double decanted around 10am with some left open longer. Dinner began a little after 7pm and ended close to midnight.

• NV Gaston Chiquet Champagne Premier Cru Tradition Brut 94 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

  [Magnum disgorged in April 2013.] Big yeasty nose. Light and full in the mouth. Quite complex and delicious. I like this a lot.

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• 2001 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 96 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Dark black cherry nose. Tight, tannic, but with gorgeous complex red fruit. An ethereal wine with just enough structure and harmony that should drink well for at least 20 years more. I correctly guessed that this was the 2001.

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• 1999 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 95 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Gorgeous black and red fruit nose. Full in the mouth, sweet and juicy. A yummy juicy wine, thicker and softer than A, so I correctly guessed that this was the 1999.

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• 2001 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Ca d'Morissio Riserva Monprivato 96 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Really tight and backward nose, but so complex with the brooding black fruit characteristic of the Ca bottling. I correctly guessed that this was the Ca, and hence the 2001 since there was no Ca in 1999. This will probably be best in 10 years.

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• 2001 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato 95 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Earthy muted nose. Thick, silky and aromatic. Soft and harmonious. I thought this was the 1999.

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• 1999 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato 96 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Incredibly dark black fruit nose. Brooding and backward. I had trouble guessing whether this was the 01 Monprivato or the 01 Ca, but never thought it was the 99. I guess the Ca fruit went into the 99 Monprivato making it more like the Ca. Anyway, this is probably the most backward of the 99's so far. A terrific wine. 95-97 points.

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• 1999 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste 97 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Heavenly nose of earth mulch, black fruit and truffles. Rich and expansive in the mouth. Maybe the best of all the great wines so far. Great stuff. I correctly guessed that this was the 1999.

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• 2001 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste 95 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Black cherry and truffle nose. Very tannic and structured. A backward beast, but there is plenty of fruit here. A wine to leave alone for 10 years or more. 94-96 points.

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• 1999 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia 99 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Sweet red fruit nose. Perfumed and exotic in the mouth. A complex melange of flavor. A stunningly great wine giving a load of joy tonight. WOTN so far. I correctly guessed that this was the 1999. 98-100 points.

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• 2001 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia 96 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Very tannic and backward. The first wine that is actually hard to drink tonight, but the potential is great. 95-98 points.

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• 1999 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba 94 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Earthy mulchy nose. Tannic and backward, but there is some gorgeous fruit hiding in there. This one I was sure was the 01 given how tannic and unyielding it was.

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• 2001 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba 95 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Muted black fruit nose. Soft and beautiful in the mouth. Wow! Surprisingly forward, I thought this was the 99.

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• 1999 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba 95 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  There were 2 bottles of this same wine.
  Bottle 1:
  Heavenly nose. Sunning in the mouth. Sweet and forward, this must be the 99. Huge upside for this wine. 95-?
  Bottle 2:
  Very backward at first and quite tannic. Long, long finish. Cardamom and other spices. At first this was much tighter than the first bottle, but slowly it got more and more similar as it opened.

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• 2001 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Le Rocche del Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba 100 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Oh my my. Sweet black fruit. Incredible depth and richness. This must be the 01 Riserva. Still very young, but so complex and vibrant. WOTN for me. I could drink this forever. A hint of chocolate. Could this have seen a bit of not-too-old oak?

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• 1989 Château Doisy-Védrines 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Amber color. Huge honey-cinnamon nose. Delicious, thick. Long finish.

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This was a truly great tasting. It was well-organized, and I will take credit for organizing the theme and the choice of producers, but it was the participants who dug deeply in their cellars to bring these great wines and who provided the very enjoyable comradery and knowledgeable conversation.

Both vintages, in fact all the bottles, showed very well. In this regard, we were simply lucky. 14 bottles of Barolo, not one tainted.

As far as these two vintage, by and large the 2001's are more backward and tannic, but both vintages produced terrific wines that should live a long time. I still find the 2001's more classical, but the 1999's are great too, for the most part a little more lush but still with great structure.